Reunited
by Alix Vitesse
Summary: Tifa wants it all to end. Who's going to stop her before she makes a mistake? (Kinda seems like a mid-chapter of something... *wink* But I wrote it out of boredom. PG-13 for suicidal attempt and a few bad werds. Make it clean for the children. ^_^)


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Souped-up fic. Enjoy if you're bored. Tifa+Cloud...(can you blame me?)  
  
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Reddish black-specked eyes stared out emptily outward to the ocean, the woman's face seemingly expressionless as the moon reflected off her glimmering complexion. A puff of frozen breath came from her mouth as she turned to head for a small cabin. A mere place where she stayed to be alone. No one knew about it, no one but herself. She could release all she had confided during her times here, but now, she would finally leave it. She would finally leave everything. Everything she had lived for, everything she's known... Everything she's loved. Away... It's time to throw it all away, she thought. She couldn't stand everything inside her, Aeris being back, Cloud being happier than ever because of her return. Of course, like all the others, she was happy that Aeris had been brought back, but she couldn't help but feel jealousy and fear... Fear that she might lose all she had left in the world to her. She didn't want these thoughts. She hated these feelings. She loved Aeris like a dear sister, but she couldn't love her the way she wants to because of Cloud. She loved him far too much to ever forgive Aeris for taking him bit by bit away from her. She had hatred, love, paranoia, confusion, ignorance, and happiness... She couldn't take it anymore.   
  
The woman slowly made her way back inside the cabin. She sat down on an unstable stool and took a piece of parchment that was stored in the drawer or the table in front of her. She took a quill pen, dipped in the ink and began to write, write the last words she would ever be able to express.  
  
Whoever... To whoever finds this, I only want to say one thing. Good-bye. Life was too hard for me. I could have never survived, not the way I am now. There's too many things going around inside of me, I can't handle it. Too much... Too much hatred toward the people I should love... Too many questions that will never be answered... Too many people that have died that I loved... Too many people drifting further away from me...  
  
Cloud. I never had enough courage. I was never the strong person you all thought me to be. 'Oh no! Not strong-willed, aggressive Tifa!' You're wrong. I am a coward. A coward who's afraid of her own feelings... Her owns words. God forsake me, life wouldn't have been much different if I had never lived. It would probably be better, for me and for all of you, especially you Cloud. You would have already gone off in a life with Aeris and have the perfect life you've always wanted... She's always wanted, as well. I was only a distraction... No, an interruption. You had no feelings for me except for that silly childhood crush. You would have never known how much I loved you Cloud. Not in the years I would live. Since we were children, I've loved you... Loved you more than anyone in this world. But I... I was a coward. I could not tell you this, and now I still am not. It's written... how would it mean that much? But, Cloud, do only this... For me... I will always love you, just as I have before, and when I'm gone, forget me. Every single trace that should remind you of me, burn it... I don't want to intrude in your life, nor anyone else's. I don't want to keep you on a thread anymore. Once you forget me, Cloud... You'll be free. Good-bye, my friends.  
I love you all, more than words could ever say.  
  
Tifa Lockheart  
  
The woman sealed it into a dusty envelope and grabbed a blue cloak from the coat rack. She put it over her head and took the envelope in her hands. She left the cabin silently and made for a certain house.  
  
Minutes after Tifa had left her cabin, a figure came in. He took the letter from the table and ran.  
  
***  
  
A rushing man came running toward Cloud's door. He had laid the envelope slowly to the ground just inches away from the door. A blood-red rose fell upon the envelope as the man rose and spun around. Things would be better this way, the man thought. He turned around once again and knocked upon the door. He veered and ran off into the night, disappearing in the mist before the door opened.  
  
"Hello-huh? Hmm... I thought someone was out here... Hmm..." he pondered a while, then his eye caught something on the ground. There was nothing on it, and he scanned around for the person who might have owned it. He shrugged and took it back inside.  
  
"Hn... I wonder who would have left his here." He thought to himself out loud. The back was open, and curiosity just couldn't bear holding him back. Cloud lifted the letter from the envelope and began to read it. His eyes slowly widened as he read every single word with compassion and deep thoroughness. The letter had come only today... She must still be alive!   
  
Cloud rushed out, his heart pounding with agony and pain as he ran to the only place where Tifa would think of ever being her last destination. The Sunset Cliff. Their own cliff from which they watched every sunset, every moon rise... Where they would always be alone. He knew she had to be there... She just had to be.  
  
***  
  
Tifa's eyes were streaming with endless tears as she held a silver dagger close to her heart. That's where she should pierce herself. Her heart. The place where it hurt the most, the place where happiness overwhelmed her. She spent a time choking her tears back to give her enough strength to plunge the dagger inside her; forever to rust and destroy all that had gone wrong in her life... To set her spirit free.   
  
Cloud had only a few minutes left before he could reach Tifa and save her... Before she would waste her life thinking thoughts that were not true... Cloud had to save her, or he would lose everything. Losing Tifa is losing his meaning of life... He would rather die and rot in hell than lose his dear Tifa.   
  
When Aeris had come back, he was overjoyed, but his mind was more complex than ever. His head spun around, he's had nightmares of Sephiroth, he was on the verge of losing his well-contained sanity, but his love for Tifa kept him from that. As long as he had her, he would never lose hope. But now, it might just be the end for his mind.  
  
Inches away was the silver dagger, it's smooth blade glinting off the moonlight. Tifa grasped the handles and cried her last happy tears... Or so she thought. As she began to plunge the dagger, a hand had grabbed her wrist and pulled it back, making her lose her grip and letting the dagger tumble, tumble straight off the cliff. Her eyes widened in horror as she watched her only way out fall into the vast ocean. Her eyes burned with anger as she glowered and hissed at Cloud.   
  
"You... You... You bastard! Don't you know what you've done? How could you, Cloud? How could you?! Wasn't I a good friend to you, Cloud? Tell me that? Why have you taken it all away? My way out? Why, Cloud, Why?!" She mercilessly pounded her fists on Cloud's chest, but it caused him no harm. He did not budge, nor did he speak. She mumbled obscenities and slashed at him, but Cloud only offered his arms and looked at her with loving, tender blue eyes. Tifa's tear-streaked eyes closed and burned as she flung herself into Cloud's arms. Cloud held her close as if she were the most fragile thing he had ever held. She cried in his arms, and he rested his head on hers.   
  
"Because..." he whispered softly. "I love you. If I lost you, I would have lost everything, Tifa. You are my life, my soul, my very heart. I am yours... And you... Are mine." Tifa lifted her head up to his. Her eyes had dried and her face shone brighter and looked more beautiful than ever in the pale moon's light. Cloud gazed into her ruby-like eyes and smiled. Tifa wrapped her arms around him, staying still and close and not making a sound.   
  
"I've always loved you, Cloud. I was just too... Too dense to admit." She whisperingly muttered.  
  
"It took more than words to show how much you cared. You showed me that, every day of my life... I was the one too dense... Too dense to notice everything. To notice your problems, to notice your feelings when I should have been there. I was too busy pampering my pride and myself to think about all those who cared about me. All those who were worried and were getting sick and tired of waiting after me. I was shallow not to see what you were going through. I never knew, Tifa, but now I do. Now I know that losing you is a million times much worse than death, hell or endless torture. Losing you is losing me. I love you, Tifa. From the day we were born, I've loved you. Not even Aeris could change that. Never."  
  
The two ripped souls were reunited. Fate had come and unfolded the future. A vision from far away dashed, a red cape blowing.   
  
Things will be better now, Tifa, for you and Cloud. You were meant for each other. I was in no place to stop that. I am truly sorry. Accept my last gift to you, Tifa. My gift of a second chance.   
  
The man disappeared, a single tear bouncing into the ground, wetting the soil and soaking in. The two souls he had ripped had been joined, but was everything better again?  
  
***  
  
Yeah, yeah, I know. VINCENT?! Well... (shrug) that's me, I guess. I WAS REALLY BORED, SPARE ME THE PAIN! (sobs uncontrollably)   



End file.
